T4 Only: Selean Federation Background

[ManOfGrey]

We now stand upon the beginning of a new dawn. For eight centuries, since the collapse of the Rule of Man, our galaxy has suffered through a dark age as we lost contact with all of the tribes of Humaniti. But now our nineteen worlds have joined together in order to emerge from this Long Night. And as trade, commerce, and peace, once again unite us, let us go forth to re-establish contact with our lost brethren. And... perhaps... even re-discover the home-worlds of those two great empires that came before us, now all but shrouded in myth... the planets Vland... and Earth.


June 3873 CE

Two years ago the Long Night was declared over, and a new Renaissance began. Everyone believed it. Everyone cheered. Now, two years later, it’s hard to disagree.

Here on Sylea, at least, Interstellar trade is booming. Thirty billion people live on Sylea, ten percent of whom work directly, or indirectly, with the shipyards… and they can’t keep up! Projections are that the surplus of present construction contracts won’t be filled for the next decade, even with every civilian order for Far Traders and Infantry Landing Ships being transferred to Zimiin. Raw materials flow in from the outer worlds, and high tech products are exported as fast as they can be manufactured. It’s hard to see where this roller-coaster may stop. But it is not hard to see the bottleneck. Sylea is the highest technologically advanced world in the Federation. Zimiin comes in behind at a close second. But after that… well, there’s Gaar. But they’re so far away, Earth itself may be between Sylea at that distant planet.

Which, one supposes, is why we need to look. Too bad we’re scheduled to go the other way.

Still… if you’re going, you might as well head that way in a sweet ride like this one.

 

[mike wightman]

And it will be over six hundred years until Cleon gets the idea to form a new Imperium...

plenty of scope for adventure in such a setting.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

There is a full write up of the late Sylean Federation / early Third Imperium in the Marc Miller's Traveller supplement Milieu 0. You will find information on its formation in -650 / 3871 CE

 

[ManOfGrey]

 

[ManOfGrey]

Members of the Sylean Federation.

High Tech worlds:

• 2118 Sylea A586A98-C HiPop 305 G2 V
• 2115 Zimiin A331744-B Na Po 304 M4 V

These are the only two worlds in the Sylean Federation that have a technology level high enough to construct the starships as presented in the T4 rulebook, and T4's Starships supplement.


Medium-High Tech worlds:

• 2729 Gaar C360211-A De LowPop 120 M9 V
• 1916 Irurk A344644-9 Ag Ni 614 M9 D

These two worlds have the technology to make the most basic Jump-1 starships, but due to Garr's distance, and Irurk's lack of industry, simply don't. They do construct limited amounts of non-starfairing spacecraft, particularly at Irurk's class A starport. (In fact, Sylea, Zimiin, and Irurk are the only worlds with class A starports in the Sylean Federation.)


Medium Tech worlds:

• 1815 Unrair C510111-7 LoPop 413 M3 V
• 1819 Unkuu B505144-8 Ic LowPop V 300 M7 V
• 1918 Irmap Muu C624422-7 LoPop 204 K1 V M4 V
• 2014 Bala C62A333-8 Wa LoPop 414 M0 V M7 D
• 2016 Zuarkri C877599-8 Ag Ni 504 M2 V
• 2214 Lauursha E849555-5 Ni 904 A1 V
• 2314 Laairer B559111-8 LoPop 904 A1 VI
• 2316 Idmum C4447AA-7 Ag 802 M0 V M5 D
• 2318 Kuunen Ish B210666-8 Na Ni 413 M4 V M7 D M5 D

Low Tech Worlds:

• 1917 Aggii Ganaan E222477-4 Po LowPop 804 K4 V
• 2017 Kain E576244-4 LoPop 821 M7 V (Scout Base)
• 2317 Gikuu E571344-1 LoPop 910 M2 IV M8 D

Worlds annexed by the Sylean Federation whose populations did not survive the Long Night. Presently under study for re-colonization:

• 1919 Nirinirk E776000-6 Ba 000 F2 V
• 2213 Kiiri B541000-5 Po Ba 014 G9 V
• 2216 Khash B8A6000-7 Ba 023 M0 V

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Have you given thought to the rival intersteller polities operating at the time of the Federation's formation. There are:
The Chanestin Kingdom established in -1304 which reaches its height in -1250 "By Year -1250, some twenty-five worlds were theirs, all within five parsecs of Keshi" Federation traders do not contact them until about -107 and the Chanestin are immediately hostile .

The other is the Interstellar Confederacy
"Founded in Year -684, the Confederacy occupied thirty-two worlds in the Bunkeria and Cemplas subsectors immediately to spinward of Sylea. The Confederacy centered on three powerful worlds: Marsus (0127), Protalus (0128) and Sketola (0622) (the capital). As the Long Night drew to an end, these worlds rapidly rose to TL12..."
A large passenger line, Achenaar Antilles merchant and passenger line on F‘now was established in -587 on F'now (0722). Finally Federation Scouts do not discover the Confederacy until -301.

With these clues, some inferences can be made:
F'now is 14 parsecs from Sylea. If it represents the closest world of the Confederation, then Sylean scouts have only made it out 14 parsecs in -301, give. In -650, this is likely much less. So, I infer that 2729 Gaar is a world too far to be a part of the Sylean Federation during its formation in -650.

The Milieu 0 text makes the IC to be strong and vibrant, though insular. The Kingdom exists, but only has 1 jump capable ship left until the Syleans scare them out of decline.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

The text goes on to describe that Chanestin Kingdom was not intimidated by 90,000 dTon battlecruisers from Sylea checking on the missing trade mission and takes some Federation worlds during the resulting war. Fusion+ is what seems to have nade the difference in layer years.

I suggest that the Sylean Federation is at its start in -650 / 3871CE much smaller than the 20+ worlds you have down as by -107 it has trouble fighting the Kingdom and its 25 or so worlds.

 

[ManOfGrey]

Thank you for the ideas.

Have you given thought to the rival intersteller polities operating at the time of the Federation's formation. There are:
The Chanestin Kingdom established in -1304 which reaches its height in -1250 "By Year -1250, some twenty-five worlds were theirs, all within five parsecs of Keshi" Federation traders do not contact them until about -107 and the Chanestin are immediately hostile .

No, actually. I had not considered the Chanestin Kingdom. Thank you for the heads up.

The other is the Interstellar Confederacy.

Now, that's a bit of a different matter. I even wrote about it a little in another thread.

In the books they talk about "The Interstellar Confederacy," a pocket empire the Sylean Federation first made contact with in -301, before the founding of the Third Imperium. If you don't mind setting the clock back, I have been considering just how interesting a setting this might be for a group of adventurers, perhaps as the members of the original scout team, that makes this first contact. For several reasons...

The Traveller Wiki describes the Interstellar Confederacy as such:

"The Interstellar Confederacy was an interstellar, multi-system government located in the Core Sector. It was a loosely allied collection of 32 star systems in a Confederation within the Bunkeria and Cemplas subsectors of Core Sector. The Interstellar Confederacy was the largest interstellar government to oppose the Sylean Federation during their 650 year ascendance in the Core Sector."

The First Survey supplement, in particular, only lists 19 worlds as members of the "Sylean Federation." My idea centers around scouts making contact with the Interstellar Confederacy in these early years when the Federation is still at this nascent, and fragile, point in their existence. While I haven't seen anything that specifically lists which worlds constituted the Interstellar Confederacy, you can go along the Core sector's main trading routes, and choose 32 systems that are close to one another. The thirty-two I chose, turned out to have some interesting characteristics in comparison to the early Sylean Federation, according to First Survey.

First of all, obviously, there are 32 worlds in comparison to 19. Secondly, there are four worlds in the Interstellar Confederacy that have a tech level of 12, while only one world in the Sylean Federation, (Sylea itself, actually,) that has this high a tech level. So when the scouts make first contact, they may be in for something of a shock.

This is a pocket empire that is bigger, and more technologically advanced, than the Sylean Federation! Assuming the scouts are tasked with the mission of finding worlds that could add to the advancement of the Sylean Federation, they certainly hit paydirt. But what's to keep the Confederacy from absorbing the Federation instead? Or worse yet, conquering it? It would seem to me, therefore, the scouts are going to have to measure their words and actions carefully, lest the Confederacy start getting ideas. Because if they did, the Sylean Federation would be out-manned, out-gunned, and over-matched in a serious conflict.

I find these ideas intriguing because turn-about is fair play. Usually it's the Imperium that is the big kid on the block. But at this earlier juncture, it's the other way around. How can Sylea "overcome" such an overpowering potential adversary? The books talk about how the Sylean Federation, and later the Third Imperium, tended to avoid these conflicts by "surrounding" and "engulfing" these pocket empires as they expanded. But that may be easier said than done! Could player characters working for the Sylean Scout Service explore the rim of the Interstellar Confederacy, perhaps finding out where, politically, their neighbors stand? Could scouts, or agents, of Sylea start making trade deals, or do favors, for those outlying powers? Could player characters be given the task to spreading descent among the worlds of the Interstellar Confederacy?

To say nothing of the irony that they would be undermining the very form of government that the Third Imperium is destined to become. The Confederacy is not a tight-knit community with once central Confederacy-wide government. But, instead, it is a loose alliance of worlds, whose internal affairs are governed locally. The very thing Cleon stove for with the formation of the Third Imperium.

Lastly, according to the Traveller Wiki, the major turning point in the downfall of the Intersteller Confederacy, was when (in -239) a civil war broke out among their members as a charismatic leader, Baron Rolf von Toerbach, tried to seize power. Sound familiar? :devil:

 

[flykiller]

khash looks like fun - not often you see a traveller character with watercraft or submersible skill.

How can Sylea "overcome" such an overpowering potential adversary?

sounds like a job for high-stat james bond characters ....

 

[mike wightman]

The Traveller Wiki describes the Interstellar Confederacy as such:

"The Interstellar Confederacy was an interstellar, multi-system government located in the Core Sector. It was a loosely allied collection of 32 star systems in a Confederation within the Bunkeria and Cemplas subsectors of Core Sector. The Interstellar Confederacy was the largest interstellar government to oppose the Sylean Federation during their 650 year ascendance in the Core Sector."

The key words there are 'loosely allied'...

The First Survey supplement, in particular, only lists 19 worlds as members of the "Sylean Federation." My idea centers around scouts making contact with the Interstellar Confederacy in these early years when the Federation is still at this nascent, and fragile, point in their existence. While I haven't seen anything that specifically lists which worlds constituted the Interstellar Confederacy, you can go along the Core sector's main trading routes, and choose 32 systems that are close to one another. The thirty-two I chose, turned out to have some interesting characteristics in comparison to the early Sylean Federation, according to First Survey.

What is the main advantage that a federation has over a loosely allied confederation?...

First of all, obviously, there are 32 worlds in comparison to 19. Secondly, there are four worlds in the Interstellar Confederacy that have a tech level of 12, while only one world in the Sylean Federation, (Sylea itself, actually,) that has this high a tech level. So when the scouts make first contact, they may be in for something of a shock.

So you stir up trouble between them...

This is a pocket empire that is bigger, and more technologically advanced, than the Sylean Federation!(but suffers from being a loose alliance rather than an organised federation) Assuming the scouts are tasked with the mission of finding worlds that could add to the advancement of the Sylean Federation, they certainly hit paydirt. But what's to keep the Confederacy from absorbing the Federation instead? Or worse yet, conquering it?(the confederacy is a loose alliance, how well can its upper tier of government organise the entire confederacy for an interstellar conflict?) It would seem to me, therefore, the scouts are going to have to measure their words and actions carefully, lest the Confederacy start getting ideas. Because if they did, the Sylean Federation would be out-manned, out-gunned, and over-matched in a serious conflict.

If I were in charge of the FISS I would have my initial wave of scout ships disguised as merchants with a cover story of being part of a trading guild from Arglebargle XII or some such ruse.

I find these ideas intriguing because turn-about is fair play. Usually it's the Imperium that is the big kid on the block. But at this earlier juncture, it's the other way around. How can Sylea "overcome" such an overpowering potential adversary?

Covert actions, industrial espionage, political manipulation, all the stuff that can be small scale and involve PCs doing stuff. The PCs could even be a group of ex-Federation types from a variety of careers, both military and service, who meet up in a starport bar and decide to make it big by seeking their fortune on the confederation border worlds. Before long one or tow of their 'patrons' are giving them missions that involve obtaining trade secrets, delivering a package, transporting some unusual passengers - there are lots of possibilities here. A more active duty type campaign could involve Federation covert operatives, agents, special forces, political agitators (why am I thinking Culture special circumstance over and over again?).

The books talk about how the Sylean Federation, and later the Third Imperium, tended to avoid these conflicts by "surrounding" and "engulfing" these pocket empires as they expanded. But that may be easier said than done! Could player characters working for the Sylean Scout Service explore the rim of the Interstellar Confederacy, perhaps finding out where, politically, their neighbors stand? Could scouts, or agents, of Sylea start making trade deals, or do favors, for those outlying powers? Could player characters be given the task to spreading descent among the worlds of the Interstellar Confederacy?

Yes, definitely yes. This is a setting where PC scale activities will make a big difference further down the line. This is the type of setting I like.

To say nothing of the irony that they would be undermining the very form of government that the Third Imperium is destined to become. The Confederacy is not a tight-knit community with once central Confederacy-wide government. But, instead, it is a loose alliance of worlds, whose internal affairs are governed locally. The very thing Cleon stove for with the formation of the Third Imperium.

Emm, I am going to have to disagree with you on this bit. Clean didn't reconstitute the Imperium to establish a loose confederation. The Imperium is a feudal dictatorship more akin to a mob protection racket.
You want to trade with us? Here are the rules you have to follow and we will take a part of your wealth every year for membership of our club, which you can never leave.
It is only the frontier sectors of the thousand year old Imperium that have extensive home rule provision. The closer to the core sectors you go the more direct Imperial influence there is on worlds.

Lastly, according to the Traveller Wiki, the major turning point in the downfall of the Intersteller Confederacy, was when (in -239) a civil war broke out among their members as a charismatic leader, Baron Rolf von Toerbach, tried to seize power. Sound familiar? :devil:

This setting demands a game, now.

 

[mike wightman]

sounds like a job for high-stat james bond characters ....

I can think of plenty of adventure opportunity for typical Traveller parties within this setting.

But the thought of a Sylean IMF team...

 

[flykiller]

So you stir up trouble between them...

like the bible says, "a whisperer stirs up trouble".

this setting demands a game, now.

I'm ready ...

the thought of a sylean imf team

... but perhaps something less evil.

 

[ManOfGrey]

Zimiin

Zimiin

2115 A331744-B Na Po 304 M4 V

Zimiin is not quite a desert world, but it's close. It is just a little larger than the planet Mars, and has slightly more water. 10% of its surface is covered in water, and it has a "Very Thin" atmosphere. Humans must use respirators when exposed to the natural environment of Zimiin. Geologically Zimiin not as old as Mars, and it's core is still molten, so a magnetic field still surrounds the planet, protecting what atmosphere and liquid water it retains.

Because of these conditions, Zimiin is classified as a Poor, Non-Agricultural world.

Food production has been a desperate problem on Zimiin for centuries. Truly, the founding the Sylean Federation has helped Zimiin tremendously. Over the last few years, once interstellar trade again commenced, Zimiin has been able to import enough food to feed everyone. Children no longer go to bed hungry. It is heavily industrialized. People work long hours to build the high tech goods they export in exchange for the food it imports. It is hoped, eventually, Zimiin can become more self-sustaining. But that would require a terra-forming effort like the galaxy has never seen.

 

[mike wightman]

Just build vertical farms in climate controlled habitats...

its another one of those setting tropes that makes no sense. A TL11 world with an A class starport not directing some of its technological resources towards making high tech farms.

At TL11 they could easily make orbital habitats, harvest minerals from asteroids to make the soils and fertilizers needed for the farms.

The non=agricultural rating is because it doesn't export agricultural products, and I can see why there would be a market for produce from other worlds.

Think about what it was like during the Long Night pre-contact with the Sylean Federation, did they really have a type A starport or is that thanks to Sylean investment...

 

[ManOfGrey]

Since you asked, I don't mind stretching my imagination a little.

Just build vertical farms in climate controlled habitats...

its another one of those setting tropes that makes no sense. A TL11 world with an A class starport not directing some of its technological resources towards making high tech farms.

At TL11 they could easily make orbital habitats, harvest minerals from asteroids to make the soils and fertilizers needed for the farms.

I would suggest Zimiin's "problems" have less to do with technology, than the raw materials and resources available to them. Their problem lays, for the most part, with the eco-system they inhabit. Earth is very much a "water world." In contrast, I picture Zimiin as a world where that much water simply doesn't exist... anywhere. There are few oceans, exceedingly small ice caps, and no aquifers. (It doesn't rain very much on Mars.) During the Dust Bowl in Oklahoma, (where I'm from,) there wasn't a lack of farms or technology. There just wasn't any water. It was simply gone! People starved.

There is only so much water on the planet, and it's very scarce. Any more scarce, and Zimiin would be a desert planet.

What would it be like to sustain a population of 30,000,000 people on Mars with hardly any water, and no support from Earth, for hundreds of years?

Yes, you can get water from the Oort cloud, in the form of ice. And they probably do. But to affect an eco-system on a planetary scale, is almost more water than is fathomable. (Pun intended.) Even according Travellermap.com, Zimiin, renamed Knabbib, still has a hydro-graphic percentage of 10%. Even after a thousand years, Humaniti has been unable to terra-form this planet with any significance.

The non-agricultural rating is because it doesn't export agricultural products, and I can see why there would be a market for produce from other worlds.

Think about what it was like during the Long Night pre-contact with the Sylean Federation, did they really have a type A starport or is that thanks to Sylean investment...

I would also suggest, Zimiin, along with Sylea, are the two driving forces behind the formation of the Federation. Zimiin has the technological capability to build starships, included the much vaunted Far Trader, and has probably been doing so for decades. (Chris Foss' art for the Far Trader in the T4 book, as far as I'm concerned, is a Zimiin design. ) Like Sylea, they have the ability to go forth and make contact with others. And has probably been doing so in an attempt to find more places to import food from.

Now, of course, this is just fiction I am writing for the background of a game I am considering. I'm just making this all up, (albeit with an eye poised on Zimiin's UWP.) This is me filling in the blanks. So... how do you write a background of a world with a fairly high tech, yet with a trade classification of "Poor?" To me "Poor" + "Non-Agricultural" + little water = hungry.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

a few thoughts:

with so little water, reclamation technology and practice will be pervasive, and indeed invasive, to a degree that would seem almost comical to any outside not aware of how little water is available.

people's breath masks are designed to capture expelled moisture, and many people continue to wear them even in pressurised building to maximise capture. some folk have had the filters surgically implanted into the nose. almost every air system has a large, hyper-efficient dehumidifier to pick up sweat or other water lost to the atmosphere. All waste is treated for reclamation, and even the bodies of the dead are dried and their water extracted before burial.

washing in water is an almost unheard of extravagance, with the richer using "sonic cleaners" or other high tech hygiene options, and the poorer using chemical showers. People avoid manual labour or working up a sweat if they possibly can, leading to heavy use of automation for almost every task. temperatures are kept cool to reduce sweating, and the normal dress is a bodysuit that covers form the neck downwards which as a limited ability to "wick" sweat away form the body into a storage bad for recycling and reuse.

Alcohol as a drink is almost unknown, and due to its diuretic effect. Drinks are almost never shared and asking someone to share their drink is seen as a major imposition and quite insulting (think "can I sleep with your wife" level). conversely, offering a drink to someone is taken as a sign of deep trust and high regard. Spilling someones drink will cause a instant and often violent reaction.


the production and distribution of drinkable water is controlled by a cartel of water companies, which work together to keep a monopoly on commercial water production and sales. they control the orbital ice mining industry, and local laws require that any off-world traders trying to sell water must do so to them (the price they set is sufficient to ensure a profit for both cartel and trader, which keeps off world dissent with the system to a minimum).

natives of Zimiin who have travelled to earth like planets often experience severe culture shock, and often describe such planets as "heavenly". The most common reaction to seeing a ocean or experiencing a rainstorm for the first time is bemused incomprehension, followed by a almost Euphoric joy at the availability of so much water. many struggle with the idea of free or only lightly controlled water, and see water-based showers as something only a hyper-rich person could or should do. Swimming is almost totally alien to them.

 

[BRJN]

Take a look at the 'termite mound' in The Future Is Wild (BBC video series). Large Zimiini buildings often include a deep basement in the bedrock, uninsulated or poorly-insulated so the room stays near the steady cool temperature of the rock - much like a cave does. Air from the rest of the building is circulated down here, where vapor condenses into drops. Put up a few big plastic sheets with a rough surface for the drops to form upon and drip into a collector pan.

It is considered especially romantic to propose marriage in one of these rooms, because of the subconscious associations with both wealth/value and Life.

 

[flykiller]

how little water is available

actually 10% is an entire ocean. there's no shortage of water at all, rather the only question is getting the water to where it's used - or bringing what uses water to the ocean.

 

[Grav_Moped]

I can think of plenty of adventure opportunity for typical Traveller parties within this setting.

But the thought of a Sylean IMF team...

International* Monetary Fund? Get them to overextend on development loans, then buy the whole star system for cents on the Credit after the next economic downturn bankrupts them...

(Yeah, I know, recent poli/econ is a suspect topic here. Mostly just wanted to make the IMF joke, and I'll drop it.)

On topic: Zimmer-Bradley's The World Wreckers






* "Interstellar", maybe?

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

actually 10% is an entire ocean. there's no shortage of water at all, rather the only question is getting the water to where it's used - or bringing what uses water to the ocean.

well, that and purification. after all, thats 10% planetary surface is water, not 10% surface freshwater.



quick maths: wiki puts the surface area of Mars at 144,798,500 Km². 10% of that is, obviously 14,479,850 Km².

thats...quite large. for reference, the Mediterranean Sea is about 2.5 million, and the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico combine are about 4 million. its roughly the size of the Artic Ocean (link to image of artic ocean's extent). obviously it wont be all in one single basin, but still, its a lot more water than i'd initially thought.